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Saturday, June 8, 2013

Book Review: World's Greatest Sleuth! by Steve Hockensmith (Holmes on the Range #5)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Fun main characters, good story

Cons: A tad slow a couple of times; a few too many characters
at beginning

The Bottom Line:

A World's Fair Murder

Great story and fun setting

Old Red shines again

Competition to Replace Sherlock Holmes Turns Deadly

Or, Old Red Investigates a Cheesy Murder

Several years ago, I stumbled upon the Holmes on the Range
mysteries. The series is narrated by Otto
Amlingmeyer (aka Big Red), a cowboy in 1890's America who plays Watson to his
brother Gustav's (aka Old Red) Sherlock.
And, in a fun twist on things, in the world they live in, Sherlock
Holmes was a real man. World's Greatest Sleuth!is the fifth tale about these two, and I enjoyed catching up on their
latest adventure.

It's 1893 and the Amlingmeyer Brothers are trying to figure
out what to do next. All that changes
when Big Red gets a letter from his publisher.
The man wants to enter them in the World's Greatest Sleuth contest about
to start at the Chicago World's Fair. In
addition to the cash prize, the winner will claim the mantle of the still
missing Sherlock Holmes. So the two race
from Texas to Illinois, barely making it for the first
round.

They are thrilled to be reunited with the mystery and
beautiful Diana. However, their
enjoyment is tempered by Armstrong Curtis.
The man has recently unmasked one dime novel hero as a fraud and had set
his sights on those in the competition.
While the duo have nothing to fear, his attempts to trip them up are
annoying. The second morning, the
contest leads all the detectives to Armstrong's very dead body hidden inside
the world's largest block of cheese. While
almost everyone wants to chalk it up to an accident, Old Red is certain it is
murder. And with all the secrets their
competitors have, there is no lack of motive.
Can Old Red figure out who killed Armstrong and why?

I wouldn't keep coming back to these books if I didn't like
the characters, and I continued to enjoy Big Red and Old Red's company. Old Red can be a bit of a grouch, but he is
coming out of his shell in slow increments, and it was fun to see that happen
again here. Big Red is an always fun
narrator with some humorous stuff thrown in that makes the pages fly by.

The book has a rather large cast of supporting characters,
and they are introduced all at once. It
was a bit overwhelming at times, but the cheat sheet at the beginning helped me
keep them all straight. By the end of
the book, I was able to keep all the characters straight.

The story stalls out a time or two, but never for very
long. There are some fun sub-plots that
help carry the story along. The climax
was exciting, surprising, and logical.
Plus the post climax ending was great.

I also found the setting fun. There is something about a story set during a
World's Fair that really appealed to me.
I could picture much of what Big Red and Old Red were seeing, so that
was great.

World's Greatest Sleuth!is a worthy addition to the Holmes
on the Range series. If you haven't met
these two detectives yet, now's a great time to change that.

About Me

I'm an accountant by trade but a reviewer at heart. Top reviewer at Amazon. Love to read, watch TV and movies, and listen to music. And I'm always looking to share and discuss what I am currently consuming.

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